PrintPeter Leone found the perfect way to describe his newest star.
“I call him the Geico horse, because he’s so easy a caveman can do it,” he said. “He’s like an equitation horse who jumps a 1.60-course. He’s just incredible to ride.”
That horse, Select, lived up to Leone’s praise today, June 3, when he topped the $100,000 Grand Prix of Devon. Select edged out Hidden Creek’s Campella, ridden by Margie Engle, and German Andre Thieme aboard Antares F.
Nine of the 21 entries qualified for Alan Wade’s shortened course at the Devon Horse Show. But a line from the first course, a triple bar to a tall vertical, tripped up the first five competitors, as the horses flattened out after a gallop to the triple and knocked the second element of the line down.
Engle managed to leave the jump in the cups on her way to the first clear round in the class, but she took her time getting there, leaving the door open for a speedier round. And sure enough, Leone and Select managed to shave off just enough time to win. German visitor Thieme and his new partner put in a clear round as well, but stopped the clock just over Engle’s time.
“Margie played it just right,” said Leone. “I watched as many in the jump-off as I could, and it was clear where the bogey fence was. I took a chance, [and sliced the turn after fence 2], and I called on the character of my horse, but I knew if I was going to beat Margie I had to do something.”
Christine McCrea survived a hairy moment with Romantovich Take One when her horse shaved a turn quite tightly and nearly jumped the standard but left the rails in the cups on that fence. The judges rewarded her careful riding with the Richard E. McDevitt Style Award.
Select’s innate rideability and tendency to rise to the occasion have served Leone well—the pair won the $25,000 1.50-meter classic at the Winter Equestrian Festival and finished second in the $200,000 Gene Mische Invitational (Fla.) earlier this season. But that performance is a double-edged sword, as the 10-year-old, owned by Lionshare and Ger Poels Horses remains very much for sale, and Leone fears he may not stay in his barn. Leone owns a piece of the gelding and would love to find a sponsor to help support their partnership, but he readily admitted that finding sponsors has never been his strongest suit.
Engle praised the performance of her mount, who has done an awful lot of growing up in the last year. Much of that maturity came from contesting the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games Selection Trials this spring in Wellington, Fla. While Hidden Creek’s Campella didn’t earn a berth on the WEG longlist, she did finish a respectable 19th.
"The mare just started in the grand prix last year,” said Engle. “She learned a lot in the Trials. I’m very happy with her, to be able to walk into the ring with no warm-up class and go that well.”
